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That's Why They Play the Game

The Super Bowl was a rare treat. The game itself was the best part of the two-week long spectacle. Not the parties, not the hype, not the commercials either. In our era of ancillary coverage beating actual reportage, it was a relief to find that living in the moment pays off.

We're in a decade in which the anticipation often trumps the event. Announcing All-star game line-ups gets twice the ink of the All-Star game itself. The NFL draft draws ratings better than NFL games. And this week Tom Brady on TMZ tickled talk show types who now had celebrity to dish about instead of cover 2 zones.

The genie's out of the bottle; Jessica Simpson is now part of wild-card weekend, which leads me to believe that the sports folk don't have enough faith in their own product.

Be that as it may, Sunday was a huge upset; the Giants beat New England, the NFL beat two weeks of fluff, and for a day, this day, the sports page beat the tabloids.